Dissecting the end cap:
Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats and the Worlds They Came From
by Richard Davenport Hines
Late in the night of April 14, 1912, the mighty Titanic, a passenger liner traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City, struck an iceberg four hundred miles south of Newfoundland. Its sinking over the next two and a half hours brought the ship?mythological in name and size?one hundred years of infamy.
Of the 2,240 people aboard the ship, 1,517 perished either by drowning or by freezing to death in the frigid North Atlantic waters. What followed the disaster was tantamount to a worldwide outpouring of grief: In New York, Paris, London, and other major cities, people lined the streets and crowded around the offices of the White Star Line, the Titanic?s shipping company, to inquire for news of their loved ones and for details about the lives of some of the famous people of their time.
While many accounts of the Titanic?s voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Voyagers of the Titanicfollows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel?s fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third class?from plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America.
Richard Davenport-Hines delves into the fascinating lives of those who ate, drank, reveled, dreamed, and died aboard the mythic ship: from John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest person on board, whose comportment that night was subject to speculation and gossip for years after the event, to Archibald Butt, the much-beloved military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who died helping others into the Titanic?s few lifeboats. With magnificent prose, Voyagers of the Titanic also brings to life the untold stories of the ship?s middle and third classes?clergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, counterjumpers, and clerks?each of whom had a story that not only illuminates the fascinating ship but also the times in which it sailed. In addition, Davenport-Hines explores the fascinating politics behind theTitanic?s creation, which involved larger-than-life figures such as J. P. Morgan, the ship?s owner, and Lord Pirrie, the ship?s builder.
The memory of this tragedy still remains a part of the American psyche and Voyagers of the Titanic brings that clear night back to us with all of its drama and pathos. (Indigo.ca)
RMS Titanic: Gilded Lives on a Fatal Voyage
by Hugh Brewster
April 14, 2012, marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The “unsinkable subject,” the story of the giant ship that sank on its maiden voyage, has become one of our most potent modern parables and enduring metaphors. The image of the ship’s plunging stern is an icon, and expressions like “rearranging the deck chairs” and “hitting the iceberg” need no explanation.
Yet on a cold, clear April night the disaster happened to real people—stokers, millionaires, society ladies, parsons, parlourmaids—people who displayed a full range of all-too-human reactions as the events of the night unfolded. With new research,R.M.S. Titanic weaves the dramatic story of that fateful crossing with compelling portraits of the people on board—those who survived, and those who tragically lost their lives—allowing us to place ourselves on that sloping deck and ask, “What would we do?” (Indigo.ca)
Farewell Titanic: Her Final Legacy
by Charles Pellegrino
On the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, a prominent Titanic researcher offers a final chance to see the ship before it disappears forever
The Titanic was the biggest, most luxurious passenger ship the world had ever seen; the ads proclaimed it to be unsinkable. When it sank in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people, the world was forever changed and the public has been spellbound ever since. Now, a century later, the Titanic is about to disappear again: its infrastructure is set to collapse in the next few years. In this book, scientist Charles Pellegrino offers what may be the last opportunity to see the ship before it is lost to the seas for eternity. The last book to be written while survivors were still alive and able to contribute details, Farewell, Titanic includes many untold stories about the sinking and exploration of the unsinkable ship.
- Author Charles Pellegrino provided source material for James Cameron's Oscar-winning Titanic film, which is being re-released in 3D at the same time as the book
- Includes 16 pages of never-before-published full-color photographs of the sunken vessel
- Includes all-new information about the Titanic research that has been carried out in the last decade
- Written by a New York Times bestselling author who participated in the post-discovery analysis of the Titanic's remains during the expedition that immediately followed Robert Ballard's Titanic discovery in 1985 (Amazon.ca)
Unsinkable: the Full Story of the RMS Titanic
by Daniel Allen Butler
Just before midnight on April 14, 1912, the ocean liner Titanic struck an iceberg. Less than three hours later, she lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, having taken with her more than 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 people on board. Even now, a century later, no other ship in history has attracted so much attention, stirred up such powerful emotion, or accumulated as many legends.
"Unsinkable" provides a fresh look at the Titanic's incredible story. Following the great ship from her conception to her fateful collision to the ambitious attempts to salvage her right up to the present day, Daniel Allen Butler draws on thirty years of research to explore the tragedy and its aftermath in remarkable depth and detail. The result is a must-read for anyone interested in the Titanic. (Indigo.ca)
Shadows of the Titanic: the Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived
by Andrew Wilson
In the early hours of 15 April 1912, after the majestic liner Titanic had split apart and the 1,500 men, women and children struggled to stay alive in the freezing Atlantic, the sea was alive with the sound of screaming. Then, as the ship sank to the ocean floor and the passengers slowly died from hypothermia, a deathly silence settled over the sea. Yet the echoes of that night reverberated through the lives of each of the 705 survivors. Shadow of the Titanic tells the extraordinary stories of some of those who survived.
Although we think we know the story of the Titanic - the famously unsinkable ship that hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Britain to America in April 1912 - little has been written about what happened to the survivors after the tragedy. How did the loss of the ship shape the lives of the people who survived? How did those who were saved feel about those who perished? And how did they remember that terrible night, in effect a disaster that has been likened to the destruction of a small town?
Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking, SHADOW OF THE TITANIC will shed new light on this enduringly fascinating story by showing how the disaster continued to shape the lives of a cross-section of passengers who escaped the sinking ship. (Simon & Schuster)
James Cameron's Titanic
by James Cameron
When James Cameron’s film Titanic first sailed across the silver screen in 1997, audiences were amazed by its groundbreaking visual effects, cinematography, and heart-wrenching love story. Now, nearly fifteen years later, Titanic has remained one of the most critically acclaimed and highest-grossing motion picture epics of all time, becoming a cultural phenomenon.
In this updated edition of the New York Times bestseller, discover everything you’ve always wanted to know about Titanic, from the actual construction of the “ship of dreams” to the casting of Jack and Rose, one of the most memorable film couples in Hollywood history. Featuring an in-depth new foreword by James Cameron that details the personal impact Titanic had on his life and career as a filmmaker and never-before-seen photographs—plus a removable, double-sided poster—this collector’s edition is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at one of the most beloved movies of all time. (Amazon.com)
The majority of the books here can be found in the General History section of the bookstore with the exception of the James Cameron's Titanic book which is shelved in the Filmology section. This is but a taste of the selection one may find in any given bookstore as the fatal journey of the Titanic is commemorated this year, 100 years after the unsinkable vessel struck an iceberg and sunk in the Atlantic ocean.
If you have read any of the above titles, I'd love to receive comments from you about them. Stay tuned here all month for more about the Titanic as I join Miss Remmer's Reviews for the Titanic 2012 Reading Challenge.
